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Collin got a tree at school last week on Arbor Day. He was excited to come home and plant it and set about getting the shovel and picking a good spot in the backyard. He was very proud of his work and excited to have planted the tree without any help. He even made sure he pulled the weeds around the tree so that it looked nice. It is really nice to be with Collin and Dylan as they discover all cool stuff that the world has to offer, even something as simple as planting a little scrub pine tree from first grade.

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My son was invited to join the Chess team at his school, very impressive for a first grader in my opinion. I’m sure I can say he is the youngest Chess player in the history of our family. I played in the Chess Club in middle school, but eventually discarded the game for other, less academic pursuits.

His involvment with Chess has sparked a renewed interest in me and it feels wonderful! I have become a full paying member on Chessworld.net, so far I am very happy with the site and the game play. I’m not doing very well right now, but it has been a long, long time since I played any serious Chess. Currently my rating is 1054, no so great, but hey, plenty of room for improvement!

My little man is doing great, he learned all of the moves and most of the rules with out batting an eye, now we have to work on teaching him to think through his moves, think ahead a move or two and make sure he is making the most of each move. To that end I am playing in as many games as I can to improve my skills, I have also purchased a kids Chess book as well as “Chess Openings The Easy Way” by Nick de Firmian. Trying to get my skill at opening a game correctly up to par! I will provide some feed back when I have made some good use of the book.
Lot’s to do, but so much fun and I believe that Chess is a great game to teach kids. Not to focus only on my 6 year old, my 5 year old is playing some too, although he doesn’t have as much interest in it.

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As much as my two boys fuss and fight with each other you can tell that they love each other very deeply, even if they do show it by pestering each other non-stop! They are OK with being away from each other during the school day, but aside from that they are pretty much together all other times. They are very lucky in this regard, and I hope they always remain best friends.

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I am participating (although a bit late) in the Blog Action Day.

I easily found a link to a very pertinent article about how to go green with your kids toys.

My 6 year old has been diagnosed with ADD, however, we have reisted what the doctors have advised (medication) and instead are trying to treat his behavior with positive things, diet changes, and working with him to understand how his behavior affects those around him. I am happy to report that over the past 6 months he has really changed for the better!

What has this got to do with going green and toys? Well, one of the things that the D.O. my son is seeing pointed out is that most of our kids toys are made of plastic, and colored with who knows what from who knows where.

We are not making a conscious decision to reduce the plastic in that our kids come in contact with. It is very hard, EVERYTHING seems to be made out of brightly colored plastic.

Take some time to read the excellent tips over at Treehugger. Take a positive step and help your child, yourself, and our environment all at once!

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preston_hope_49

Originally uploaded by T_Shawn.

Laurie and Theresa took the kids to Preston’s Hope playground in Beachwood, Ohio. They had a great time and say that the playground is incredible.

I got to stay home and work on the continuing saga of the bathroom remodel. Can I get a pity party?

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My little man had his 5th birthday party last weekend! I cannot believe he is 5 years old already! Here is is with his best buddy, Andrew. They have been best buds since they met in daycare and started terrorizing the teachers and a good number of the other kids!

Everyone had a good time, even though it rained and was about 15 degrees cooler than it had been in several days. The past week or more had been in the 90’s and sunny, our party day and it is in the low 70’s and rainy! We didn’t let it dampen our spirits and almost everyone he invited showed up, so he was a happy little boy.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: pirate, birthday, dylan, party, 5th

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Today is day three without Mommy! I miss Mommy. The boys miss Mommy. Mommy is away on a three day ‘girls weekend’. Much deserved for her. I’m trying to do my best here with the boys, but it tough for me. I have no idea how she does it all day, every day during the summer. She is truly an amazing woman. Wish I could say the same for myself, well, not that I want to be an amazing woman..but you get my point.

Mr. Dylan has started to show off some of his art talent. Here is his latest work!

In a supreme act of fatherhood idiocy I showed Collin how to use a magnifying glass to make smoke (fire) come out of a leaf. He was totally amazed and wanted to do it! Wow, bad idea! I tried to stress how he could not do that without me around, but do my kids ever listen? That would be a big “NO”. OMG I hope he dosen’t catch something on fire! I’m keeping the magnifying glass under tight security for a while, maybe he’ll forget! Ya, and pigs might fly tomorrow!

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